Iran Watch: Week Four (10/04/2007)
Time again to put in review and perspective what has happened this past week with regards to Operation Enduring Propaganda and a looming confrontation with Iran.
You may refresh your memories of what has happened so far with the previous installments of APOV's Iran Watch: Week One, Week Two and Week Three.
Now, let us see what Iran Watch: Week Four has brought us.
You may refresh your memories of what has happened so far with the previous installments of APOV's Iran Watch: Week One, Week Two and Week Three.
Now, let us see what Iran Watch: Week Four has brought us.
Item 1: But first, a mandatory message from Operation Enduring Propaganda.
The Muslims are coming! The Muslims are coming! The Muslims may use dirty bombs! The Muslims are coming! The Muslims are coming!
(Now that this is out of the way, let us proceed as usual ...)
Item 2: Bomb, bomb, bomb ... bomb, bomb Iran!
Yes - the song remains the same indeed. More neocons keep beating the war drums louder and louder in favor of a U.S. attack against Iran: i) we have Freedom Watch who, among other things, has pledged to make the case for an Iran War; ii) not to be outdone, attack dog (and ex-U.N. ambassador) John Bolton renewed his call for bombing Iran, insisting that regime change is needed there as in the case of ... Iraq; iii) also not to be outdone, Norman Podhoretz displayed his unshakable faith by claiming that he fervently believes that Bush will attack Iran before leaving office; and iv) neocon journalists are convinced that an attack on Iran is imminent.
As each week goes by, neocons keep on salivating even more at the prospect of seeing their wet dreams becoming reality. For further reading on these matters, I suggest neo-connecting the dots to Iran (part I and II), war alarms drowned by beltway bloodlust, and so what about Iran?
Item 3: Keep making that (bogus) case for an Iran War while preparing for it, baby!
The Bush administration and their neocon supporters persist in making a case for war with Iran. Remember when I said "the success of the Iraq surge goes through Iran", back in August? Well, I can now say "I told you so" because President Bush himself said (again) that leaving Iraq would embolden Iran, while others are claiming that a war with Iran will be about protecting the troops in Iraq. At the same time, the mantra that money and weapons from Iran are getting into Iraq keeps being repeated yet once again. But wait a minute - now British military intelligence officers are also claiming that Iran is supplying the Taliban in Afghanistan with the same bomb-making equipment it provides to insurgents in Iraq (and forget that the U.N. already said "not so" with regards to similar American claims made last week ...)! Any tangible proof? "Trust us, we know" is the reply - as usual. And of course, the media keeps lapping it up big time (something which yours truly has been calling all along "Operation Enduring Propaganda").
In the meantime, the news came out that the Bush administration has indeed prepped up plans for an Iran War, which include a redefinition of the Iraq War as one with Iran, the use of diplomatic double-speaking which in essence means a ruling out of negotiations with Iran, the training of friendly Persian Gulf forces in the case of a "parallel war" (i.e. Iran War), and the selling/waging of the Iran War by making it one of "surgical" airstrikes (because, of course, it is first and foremost a matter of "selling" the war to the American people ...), among other things.
And the U.S. military brass is said to be on board with this.
On a related note: a U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary for Coalition Affairs to Defence Secretary Robert Gates is apparently not shy about her feelings for Iranians - which is rather indicative of the prevailing mood in the Bush administration, if you ask me.
On another totally unrelated note: Russia has evacuated its entire staff of nuclear engineers and experts who were working at the Bushehr nuclear reactor in Iran, while the U.S. has strangely backed down from its push for tougher sanctions against Iran just when the E.U. is poised to debate on the need for ... tougher sanctions.
(Ergo: the U.S. apparently doesn't "need" to go the way of tough sanctions against Iran anymore - maybe in order to allow them to claim a failure of "diplomacy", just like they did with Iraq in 2002? Hmmm ...)
All of this further supports the notion that Bush can and will attack Iran. As I wrote before: it is not a matter of if, but of when.
On a related note: in true Operation Enduring Propaganda fashion, the White House is once more saying "nothing to see here", "move along now" in the matter of a soon-to-come Iran War - yeah, right: deny, deny, deny.
And to end on a (relatively) lighter note:
Item 5: We're terrorists? Then so are YOU!
That's right (h/t Booman Tribune) - Iran's parliament approved a nonbinding resolution labeling the CIA and the U.S. Army "terrorist organizations", in apparent response to a Senate resolution seeking to give a similar designation to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
I guess we're all terrorists now.
That Condi-Style diplomacy is surely working fine all around, eh?
And that, as they say, is that for Iran Watch: Week Four.
As always, I sincerely hope that I will have nothing to report for next week's installment.
The Muslims are coming! The Muslims are coming! The Muslims may use dirty bombs! The Muslims are coming! The Muslims are coming!
(Now that this is out of the way, let us proceed as usual ...)
Item 2: Bomb, bomb, bomb ... bomb, bomb Iran!
Yes - the song remains the same indeed. More neocons keep beating the war drums louder and louder in favor of a U.S. attack against Iran: i) we have Freedom Watch who, among other things, has pledged to make the case for an Iran War; ii) not to be outdone, attack dog (and ex-U.N. ambassador) John Bolton renewed his call for bombing Iran, insisting that regime change is needed there as in the case of ... Iraq; iii) also not to be outdone, Norman Podhoretz displayed his unshakable faith by claiming that he fervently believes that Bush will attack Iran before leaving office; and iv) neocon journalists are convinced that an attack on Iran is imminent.
As each week goes by, neocons keep on salivating even more at the prospect of seeing their wet dreams becoming reality. For further reading on these matters, I suggest neo-connecting the dots to Iran (part I and II), war alarms drowned by beltway bloodlust, and so what about Iran?
Item 3: Keep making that (bogus) case for an Iran War while preparing for it, baby!
The Bush administration and their neocon supporters persist in making a case for war with Iran. Remember when I said "the success of the Iraq surge goes through Iran", back in August? Well, I can now say "I told you so" because President Bush himself said (again) that leaving Iraq would embolden Iran, while others are claiming that a war with Iran will be about protecting the troops in Iraq. At the same time, the mantra that money and weapons from Iran are getting into Iraq keeps being repeated yet once again. But wait a minute - now British military intelligence officers are also claiming that Iran is supplying the Taliban in Afghanistan with the same bomb-making equipment it provides to insurgents in Iraq (and forget that the U.N. already said "not so" with regards to similar American claims made last week ...)! Any tangible proof? "Trust us, we know" is the reply - as usual. And of course, the media keeps lapping it up big time (something which yours truly has been calling all along "Operation Enduring Propaganda").
In the meantime, the news came out that the Bush administration has indeed prepped up plans for an Iran War, which include a redefinition of the Iraq War as one with Iran, the use of diplomatic double-speaking which in essence means a ruling out of negotiations with Iran, the training of friendly Persian Gulf forces in the case of a "parallel war" (i.e. Iran War), and the selling/waging of the Iran War by making it one of "surgical" airstrikes (because, of course, it is first and foremost a matter of "selling" the war to the American people ...), among other things.
And the U.S. military brass is said to be on board with this.
On a related note: a U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary for Coalition Affairs to Defence Secretary Robert Gates is apparently not shy about her feelings for Iranians - which is rather indicative of the prevailing mood in the Bush administration, if you ask me.
On another totally unrelated note: Russia has evacuated its entire staff of nuclear engineers and experts who were working at the Bushehr nuclear reactor in Iran, while the U.S. has strangely backed down from its push for tougher sanctions against Iran just when the E.U. is poised to debate on the need for ... tougher sanctions.
(Ergo: the U.S. apparently doesn't "need" to go the way of tough sanctions against Iran anymore - maybe in order to allow them to claim a failure of "diplomacy", just like they did with Iraq in 2002? Hmmm ...)
All of this further supports the notion that Bush can and will attack Iran. As I wrote before: it is not a matter of if, but of when.
On a related note: in true Operation Enduring Propaganda fashion, the White House is once more saying "nothing to see here", "move along now" in the matter of a soon-to-come Iran War - yeah, right: deny, deny, deny.
And to end on a (relatively) lighter note:
Item 5: We're terrorists? Then so are YOU!
That's right (h/t Booman Tribune) - Iran's parliament approved a nonbinding resolution labeling the CIA and the U.S. Army "terrorist organizations", in apparent response to a Senate resolution seeking to give a similar designation to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
I guess we're all terrorists now.
That Condi-Style diplomacy is surely working fine all around, eh?
And that, as they say, is that for Iran Watch: Week Four.
As always, I sincerely hope that I will have nothing to report for next week's installment.
2 POVs/Comments:
I see I can find the rest of the piece in the sidebar, but did you forget the (Click to unfold the rest of this article)thingy?
Weird - it looks all fine with my browser (IE 7 Windows XP), including the "click to unfold the rest of the article" thingie ...
Anyone else having browsing problems with this?
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